According to Jeff Moses from SAP, he says that in speaking with Large Enterprise CIO’s and CFO’s, it’s clear to me that the commitment to a single Global ERP solution is strong but the path to that single solution has challenges. The benefits are clear from real-time data integration to a single version of the truth, etc…the challenges to get there are clear as well from the speed and cost to deploy to the ever changing landscape of subsidiaries, divestitures and joint-ventures.

How can a CIO get what he/she wants and how can the CFO justify the expenditures?

Through a balanced and integrated On-Demand and On-Premise strategy, leveraging a best in class On-Premise ERP solution, customized to specific requirements that drive massive efficiencies of scale in major markets along with a best in class On-Demand solution delivering configurable solutions in emerging markets. The final piece to the puzzle is having these two solutions truly integrated at the core level, ie…master data management, consolidation of financial information, etc…

In this approach, the majority of the investment dollars fall at the core level, that’s appropriate given the revenues and profits that occur there. On the other hand, at the emerging level you still can get the benefit of standard business process adoption but given it’s a ‘configuration’ approach, the time and cost to implement is a fraction of the core. That too makes sense, the revenue and profits are smaller, the cost to support and maintain should be as well. The time to deploy should be dramatically shorter as well.

It’s not enough for software vendors to be able to claim a Two-Tier or Hub and Spoke strategy when they are only addressing the hub or the spoke, ie…one of the tiers. This approach doesn’t resolve the issue and doesn’t help the CIO or the CFO.

The unique value proposition that SAP customers are being afforded is a true Two-Tier approach, via the implementation of Business Suite at the core and Business ByDesign for emerging markets. This allows the CIOs to build a long-term strategic IT landscape from a single vendor and allows the CFO to see a way to manage costs relative to benefit.